Open AccessFacet dependent electro‐optical properties of liquid crystals doped with Au nanocrystals
Author(s) -
Wang Meng,
Wei Dequan,
Zong Mingji,
Gao Shan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2019.0733
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , materials science , dopant , dodecahedron , doping , nanocrystal , nanomaterials , nanotechnology , impurity , electric field , facet (psychology) , nanoparticle , crystallography , optoelectronics , chemistry , organic chemistry , psychology , social psychology , physics , personality , quantum mechanics , big five personality traits
Doping nanoparticles into liquid crystal (LC) systems can effectively improve the electro‐optical (E‐O) properties of LCs. The authors introduced three types of (cubic, octahedral, and rhombic dodecahedral) Au nanocrystals (NCs) into a nematic LC 4‐cyano‐4′‐n‐pentylbiphenyl (5CB) and investigated the facet‐dependent Au NCs in improving the E‐O properties of 5CB. The surface energies of Au facets decreased in the order {110}>{100}>{111}. The improvement in the E‐O properties of LC is related to the interaction between LC and different exposed crystal planes of dopants. Dodecahedral Au NCs, exposing {110} facets, are the most effective in improving the E‐O properties because of their highest surface energy, resulting in a 30.15% reduction of the threshold voltage (V th ) and a 29.08% of the saturation voltage (V sat ) at a doping concentration of 0.4 wt%. The Au NCs trapped impurity particles. The screening effect could be suppressed, and the electric field could be strengthened, resulting in outstanding E‐O properties. This work provides a novel way to enhance the E‐O properties of LC molecules by doping with noble metal nanomaterials, thus improving their potential applications in energy‐saving LC displays.